1 Corinthians 12:15-21
1599 Geneva Bible
15 [a]If the foot would say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear would say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
17 [b]If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now hath God disposed the members every one of them in the body at his own pleasure.
19 For if they were all one member, where were the body?
20 But now are there many members, yet but one body.
21 [c]And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor the head again to the feet, I have no need of you.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Corinthians 12:15 Now he buildeth his doctrine upon the foundations which he had laid: and first of all he continueth in his purposed similitude, and afterward he goeth to the matter barely and simply. And first of all he speaketh unto them which would have separated themselves from those whom they envied, because they had not such excellent gifts as they: now this is, saith he, as if the foot should say it were not of the body, because it is not the hand: or the ear, because it is not the eye. Therefore all parts ought rather to defend the unity of the body, being coupled together to serve one the other.
- 1 Corinthians 12:17 Again, speaking to them, he showeth them that if that should come to pass which they desire, to wit, that all should be equal one to another, there would follow a destruction of the whole body, yea, and of themselves: for it could not be a body, unless it were made of many members knit together, and divers one from another. And that no man might find fault with this division as unequal, he addeth that God himself hath coupled all these together. Therefore all must remain coupled together, that the body may remain in safety.
- 1 Corinthians 12:21 Now on the other side, he speaketh unto them which were endued with more excellent gifts, willing them not to despise the inferiors as unprofitable, and as though they served to no use: for God, saith he, hath in such sort tempered this inequality, that the more excellent and beautiful members can in no wise lack the more abject and such as we are ashamed of, and that they should have more care to see unto them, and to cover them: that by this means the necessity which is on both parts, might keep the whole body in peace and concord: that although if each part be considered apart, they are of divers degrees and conditions, yet because they are joined together, they have a community both in commodities and discommodities.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
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